‘The Blacklist’ season 3: Potential spin-off coming starring Famke Janssen

How about this for a story we certainly did not expect to be reporting on anytime soon? NBC, despite having up to as many as five Dick Wolf shows on the air in the 2016-17 TV season, is now potentially looking to expand the franchise of “The Blacklist” in its own exciting way.

According to a new report from Deadline, actress Famke Janssen (“X-Men,” “How to Get Away with Murder”) has bee cast to appear in the upcoming 21st and 22nd episodes of season 3 as Susan “Scottie” Halsted, a woman who is described in some ways as being tom Tom Keen what Raymond Reddington is to Liz. There were many different prominent actresses courted for the part, and apparently there was a contingency placed on a possible spin-off here: If the producers could find a big name, an idea would be considered.

Now, the 22nd episode is going to be constructed in some ways as a backdoor pilot, which is to us mostly surprising because it is so late in the game this season already. It’s going to be intriguing to see how this works, and as of right now what this means for Ryan Eggold on “The Blacklist” remains unclear. Given the way in which the report describes the Scottie character, it seems like he would have to go over there in order for it to work. We’d personally be more than fine with this. We actually do really like the Tom character, but he hasn’t really been given a whole lot to do over the past year or so on the show, and “The Blacklist” at its core to us is about Liz and Red. Giving him a separate venue could be a better way to utilize his talents.

We’ll have other news on this potential idea as it comes out. For now, know that it could be May before we know anything one way or the other.

(Photo: NBC.)